The invention relates generally to underwater reconnaissance, and more particularly to an unmanned underwater reconnaissance system capable of sensing the presence of nuclear materials in the water, on a vessel or in a harbor, and then relaying the sensed information back to a remote location.
The examination or reconnaissance of underwater sites for the purposes of determining the presence of nuclear materials is necessary in a variety of military and civilian situations. For example, military situations include intelligence gathering regarding underwater vessels or harbors. Civilian situations include examination of waters surrounding a damaged or sunken vessel that is powered by or carries nuclear material, and reconnaissance of, for example, the water near a nuclear power plant. Typically, such nuclear material underwater reconnaissance is carried out by divers equipped with various underwater sensors, lights, cameras, etc., to examine an area of interest. However, this approach places divers in jeopardy of detection in the case of covert operations, exposure to nuclear radiation, and the general perils associated with deep sea diving.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for performing underwater reconnaissance with the goal of detecting the presence of nuclear material.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a nuclear material underwater reconnaissance system that is unmanned.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an unmanned nuclear material underwater reconnaissance system that can be operated from a safe stand off distance.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become more obvious hereinafter in the specification and drawings.
In accordance with the present invention, an underwater nuclear material reconnaissance system utilizes a controllable underwater vehicle having a body and a plurality of propulsion pods distributed about and coupled to the body. Each propulsion pod has its own power source coupled to a propulsor. The underwater vehicle minimally incorporates nuclear material sensors for generating sensor data indicative of the presence of nuclear material, a tunnel thruster for providing vertical thrust for the underwater vehicle, and a bi-directional communications cable deployable from the underwater vehicle. A remotely-located communications base station coupled to the bi-directional communications cable transmits control commands to the underwater vehicle and receives sensor data transmitted from the underwater vehicle.